This
was a potentially tricky moment for Mr. Obama, who stopped wearing
his flag lapel pin a while ago, a move that stirred some controversy
among conservative talk-show hosts.

“You know, the
truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin,” Mr. Obama told ABC
News last October. “Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as
we’re talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I
think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of
importance to our national security, I decided I won’t wear that pin
on my chest.”

Instead,” he said,
“I’m going to try to tell the American people what I believe
will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony
to my patriotism.”

The mayor, who had a flag
pin on, offered only a pin representing Lititz.

Mr.
Obama sampled the chocolate, but only one.

“Quite
tasty,” he said.

Tall
and slender, Mr. Obama needn’t worry about his weight.

Offered
another, he declined.

“Oh,
now you don’t worry about calories in a chocolate factory,” the
store manager said.

Mr. Obama smiles, but no
dice.

In downtown Reading, Mr.
Obama visited the Marvel Ranch diner. Cheryl Burton owns the place,
with her father and mother and kids, Derek, 11, and Wesley, 8. She
grabbed the candidate’s hand but later whispered, “I love his
ideas but I’m still undecided.”One woman in the diner, Joanna
Groebel, made it clear she prefers Mr. Obama to President Bush. “It’s
great to have a man who can speak in paragraphs,” she said.

Texas was playing Memphis in the NCAA Tournament on more than a half-dozen television sets in J.P. Edwards Grill and Bar in Burnham, Mifflin County, when Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Bob Casey dropped in.

After speaking to 22,000 at Penn State University earlier, the crowd in the bar/restaurant was less than a politician’s dream: only a few people were there when Mr. Obama walked in about 4:30 pm.

They included Shelly Krohn, 33, of Reedsville, and her family who were at the Penn State rally in State College. She was delighted to get a close-up look.

At the rally, “we didn’t get to him see very well,” she said.

Her 5-month-old daughter, Anna, was wearing a “Babies for Barack” bib.

Mr. Obama sat down and chatted with four men invited by his campaign about military issues. At least two were Iraq war veterans.

Robert Sanders, 65, a retiree from Lewistown, stopped preparing dinner for his wife when a campaign staffer called to see if he wanted to meet Mr Obama.

Mr. Sanders said he will vote for Obama in the primary, but would be torn in a general election on whether to support Mr. Obama or Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain. He does not like New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, partly because of the Monica Lewinsky scandal that involved her husband, President Bill Clinton.

“He seemed down to earth, really interested in the topic,” Mr. Sanders said of Mr. Obama. “The fact that he came to Mifflin County – one of the smallest counties – really means a lot to me.”

By the time Obama left the bar, he had a bigger following.

On the way to the bus, one person asked him to sign a dollar bill. Mr. Obama declined saying the Secret Service would arrest him.

“Hillary would have a field day with that,” one man shouted.

“Exactly,” Mr. Obama smiled.

“Could you sign my Wal-Mart receipt?” a woman asked.

The crowd groaned.

“It’s legal,” she responded.

“I’m not sure you should be shopping there,” Mr. Obama said before pivoting for the bus — although he did sign the receipt.

Before the Penn State rally, Mr. Obama and Mr. Casey visited the dairy complex and barns at the university’s agriculture facilities not far from Beaver Stadium.

During football games, more than 100,000 fans overrun the area, but on this chilly day it was just a few cows grazed in a pasture.

Instead of teaching football, the complex is centered on research, teaching and commercial production of milk for a college ice cream store and Land O’ Lakes.

Assistant herdsman Travis Edwards said the 220 Holstein cows produce 90 pounds of milk a day each. Agriculture remains the state’s top industry.

“These are cows, am I right?” Obama says as he enters the barn from the far side from where the press entered.

ALTOONA – You have to eat once in a while on the presidential campaign trail so Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Bob Casey dropped in on Altoona’s Original Texas Hot Dogs after all the speechifying on the second day of Mr. Obama’s six-day bus tour.It’s the city’s version of the Coney Island Lunches in Scranton and Abe’s Hot Dogs and Ferris Lunch in Wilkes-Barre, all great hot dog stands and all established decades ago. The Altoona version opened in 1918. The restaurant is owned by Robert and Cindy Lamont, of Hollidaysburg. Three generations of the family have run it.Besides hot dogs, the Altoona stand sells T-shirts that say, “It’s All Fun andGames…Until Someone Loses a Wiener.”Mr. Obama ordered two hot dogs ($1.36 each), two baskets of Frenchfries, and two draft root beers. He asked for “no onions because I got to talk to a lot of people.”He greeted patrons as he waited, then bought seven hot dogs (one no cheese,one no onions), five orders of French fries and five root beers for the press and staff.

“You want everything on that?” he asked. “You want to have the chili?”

(A confession here: The dog was good.)”Fifteen dollars? Man, that’s a deal right there,” Obama said. Later, Mr. Obama actually delivered part of the order to seated customers, who posed for pictures or shook hands with him.In the same restaurant, Mr. Obama and Mr. Casey sat and ate hot dogs and fries with three women for a policy conversation arranged by the campaign.One of the women, Tommi Burchfield, 31, the director of the local United Way, posed questions her children had about Mr. Obama’s daughters: how old were they and what did they like to do?Mr. Obama said they liked Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers.Mr. Casey, whom no one has ever accused Mr. Casey of being hip, said he never heard of the Jonas Brothers.“Teenage heartthrobs,” Mr. Obama told him.After the conversation, Mr. Obama signed books for the women and a frontpage of a recent Sunday “Altoona Mirror.” Altoona is in Blair County.The front-page headline said, “Presidential Candidates Ignore Blair.”“Dewey Defeats Truman, eh?” Mr. Casey said.That, of course, was the famous headline on an early edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune in 1948 when Democratic President Harry Truman was re-elected by beating Republican Gov. Thomas E. Dewey. In the rear of the restaurant, Mr. Obama posed for a picture with Jason Freehling, 29, of Altoona, a phlebotomist. It happened to be Freehling’s 29th birthday. He asked Obama if he could get a picture with him and the senator obliged.“It was awesome, an honor at that,” Freehling said.As Mr. Obama got up to leave, little Noah Brunhuber, 9, of Altoona, who earlier got his autograph, got up and handed him a drawing he drew right in the restaurant using a ruled green tablet he brought with him.He wrote the words “Obama for President” in the center and the Obama campaign logo in about a dozen circles around the words.

“I’m going to hang that up in my bus,” Mr. Obama told him after Noah darted back to his table.

“We’re going to tape that up in my bus.”

Mr. Obama folded the picture and tucked it into his pocket.

Noah said he felt “really good” that Obama was pleased with the drawing.

Co-owner Cindy Lamont, who wouldn’t give her age, said she was excited to entertain a potential future president of the United States.“It’s exciting, very exciting because all three of our kids are such big Obama fans. Unfortunately, they’re not here. We have had regular local government officials here. We’ve had some governor candidates. This is the man who’s going to be the next president of the United States.”

Down the road a stretch, the bus tour dropped in on the Pleasant Valley Recreation Center, where Altoonans bowl.

Several bowlers — ready to bite into fries lathered with ketchup and cheese — stopped munching, put down their beers, and gazed inwonderment at the presidential candidate who had wondered into theirmidst. The entourage interrupted a family birthday party that included Sue Rhoades, the vice chairwoman of the Blair County Republican Party.While Mr. Obama was talking with bowlers, Roxanne Hart, 43, an Altoona homemaker, asked to bowl with him.He and Mr. Casey changed into bowling shoes, and entered their names onto the score-keeping computer. On an overhead monitor, Mr. Obama showed up as BAR, Mr. Casey as BOB, and Mrs. Hart as ROX.As he changed his shoes, Mr. Obama said, “I just want to put out, thelast time I bowled was 30 years ago.”The first shots for Mr. Casey and Mr. Obama were gutter balls.At one point, Mr. Obama let an 8-year-old boy named Nick roll a ball for him.”We’re going to keep on going until we get a strike,” Obama said. “My goal is to beat Casey; I can’t beat Roxanne.”Shortly after knocking down nine pins with one ball, Mr. Obama turned to the crowd and said, “Let me tell you something. My economic plan is better than my bowling.”A man in the next lane over called out, “It has to be.”Mr. Obama laughed and walked over and hugged him.In the seventh frame, Mr. Obama made a spare, cleaning up one pin left standing with his second ball. “Yes I can!” he startedchanting.” Some people will use anything for an autograph.”All I had in my purse for him to sign was my pay stub,” said Lorrie Benson, 34, of Altoona.

These anecdotes were compiled by Borys Krawczeniuk, David Brown of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Mike Madden of Salon.com and Sasha Issenberg of The Boston Globe.

Q: The stops here in Pennsylvania seem a little smaller. Is that a conscious decision?

BO: Yes. You know, we were having these huge rallies and it’s just hard to get questions and have a lot of interaction and some of that was out of necessity in the first week or so. When were having an event a week and so you couldn’t really take time for the retail politics that I enjoy and think helps people know me better. We can take a little more leisurely pace when we have 6 six weeks to campaign in the states. We can do more OTRs. We’re gonna be doing more town hall meetings, fewer rallies. We’ll probably save the rallies towards the end of the campaign.

Q: Why do you think this is a difficult state for you? [inaudible] in terms of measuring your success after April the 22nd? 10 points behind? 20 points?

BO: I don’t think this is a difficult state for me. I think I’m not as well known as Sen. Clinton is in this state, which is reflected in the polls. She has a popular Democratic governor that gave her a good head start and provided her with some institutional support. I, on the other hand, have a very popular Democratic senator, who endorsed me yesterday. I’m thrilled with Bob Casey’s endorsement and I think we’re going to make steady progress. As you know I have not taken the approach of Sen. Clinton which says this state is important and then these three aren’t, or trying to select which contests matter. I think all contests matter. So we want to do as well as we can uin Pennsylvania, we may not be able to win, but I think we have a good chance and we’re going to work as hard as we can.

Q: Senator Casey, you are introducing Barack Obama to the democrats. Is that a tough sell?

Casey: No, I think that term has never been defined. It’s defined different ways. but I don’t think there’s any question that the more that he’s on the ground, the more people see him, the more people see him and see his command of the issues and, frankly, see his leadership style, that’s what we’re going to elect in November, a leader. Not a list of – and someone who just talks about – issues. And I think they understand that in these really difficult economic times they’ve got to elect somebody that they are going to have confidence in, that they can be inspired by. and I think he’s doing that already. The more time on the ground in Pennsylvania, the better he will do. But look at the other side, they’ve been campaigning in this state for 15 years, think about it. So it’s a tall order. But we’re making progress.

Q: Senator – Basra and Iraq in general has been plunged back into quite a bit of violence in the last few days. I’m interested in your take on that and if this has any effect, for instance, on plans to, you know, your proposals to withdraw troops. What you think the course we might take right now?

BO: Well, obviously, we’re still getting news from the front, so I don’t want to suggest that I have absorbed all of the facts. Based on what I’ve seen so far, it appears consistent with my general analysis which is the presence of our troops and their excellence has resulted in some reduction in violence. It has not resolved the underlying tensions that exist in Iraq. If we are going to bring long-term stability to Iraq, it is going to have less to do with our military presence there and more to do with the ability of the various factions, not just Sunni-Shia but, as we’re seeing now in Basra, Shia-Shia, inner-sectarian conflict, to be resolved. And I actually believe that we have a better chance of resolving it by setting a clear timeframe for withdrawal, in consultation with our commanders on the ground, at a deliberate but careful pace. Time would be ample for them to then come together, but they’d understand that we’re not going to be permanently occupying the country. So there’s nothing that’s happened in Basra that either surprises me or undermines my basic view that it is the political accommodations rather than our military presence that is going to bring about long-term stability. Unless you are willing to do what John McCain has suggested, which is essentially to set up a permanent occupation in Iraq, in which we are functioning as some sort of military protectorate. And, setting aside the enormous costs, $10 billion to $12 billion a month, which is unsustainable and would erode our economy here at home – the strategic implications of a long-term presence in Iraq and how that can be used to recruit terrorists, how it distracts us from having to finish the job in Afghanistan, are all reasons why I think that is a fundamentally flawed policy.

Q: Senator, what do you think of the Bush administration’s package of financial regulation reform proposals? Are they adequate to the moment and do they offer anything useful in your view as a framework?

BO: We haven’t seen all the details, and there are two separate proposals that have been at least talked about over the last couple of days. You’ve got their mortgage housing proposal that seems to draw from some of the work that’s been done by Senator Dodd and Representative Frank and that I am a co-sponsor of. If we do have a FHA model that can come in and help buyers and lenders renegotiate with each side of the transaction taking a loss but stabilizing the situation, then I think that’s a healthy thing. But we haven’t seen all the details, there’s some suggestion that’s the direction the administration might be willing to go. I think that provides a bottom to the housing crisis that can help restore some confidence in the credit markets. Based on what I’ve seen, at least just in the reports this morning, the regulatory proposals related to the Fed, I think, are inadequate. There are some good things in there about consolidating multiple regulatory agencies, streamlining and modernizing some of these regulations, recognizing the difference between banks and thrifts and other institutions may not be what they used to. But, for example, there is no call for increased capital reserve requirements or liquidity requirements on investment banks, despite the fact that we know the Federal Reserve is now empowered to provide a discount window directly to these institutions the same way it does commercial banks. if I’m a commercial bank right now, I’m still not clear why it is that investment banks not only are able to do things I can’t do, aren’t subject to the same capital requirements and liquidity requirements that I am and yet they’ve got the same fallback with the Fed as we do. and if I’m a taxpayer, I’m also concerned about that, because promises the possibility of investment banks or other institutions like hedge funds continuing to take excessive risks knowing that the fed might come in and bail them out. So my sense is that part of the package that they’re putting together is not adequate. There are some good elements to it and I think we should be open to negotiating with the administration, but, you know, there’s just an ideological predisposition not to add additional regulation. I think that would be a mistake. let me take a couple more. We’re going to have a more extensive one on Monday. so I don’t want to be here forever. you have had about eight of them already. so I’m going to see if anybody else who hasn’t had an opportunity — go ahead.

Q: You got a question about jobs going overseas. and you said you wanted to be honest. how much of what you are offering is tough love and are you at all worried that what they will hear, the voters will hear is eventually tough cookie.

BO: No. I mean, I though I gave a pretty extensive answer. I talked about investing in education, lifelong learning, changing our tax code to incentivize companies locating here, changing our trade policies so that we’re tougher negotiators with other countries and it’s not as easy for companies to move overseas and then ship the goods right back here without any labor standards, environmental standards or safety standards, investments in infrastructure, investments in energy independence. The point I was making was that the same jobs are probably not going to come back. You know, we’re not going to suddenly see Bethlehem Steel re-open. What we’re going to see potentially is some specialty steel of the sort that we saw at Johnstown Wire that has created a niche that can grow. That’s the kind of approach I think that we’ve got to take and that’s why parts of Pennsylvania are actually doing pretty well right now.

Q: [paraphrase] To follow up. In Ohio, where you did have some time to campaign, you got beat pretty badly in the eastern part of the state that’s quite similar in many ways to western Pennsylvania. What are you doing or saying differently in this state that’s going to cause a different result for you?

BO: We didn’t really have a lot of time to campaign. I mean, we had two weeks to campaign between Texas and Ohio. And so I think that I spent maybe four days in Ohio total. And we’re going to be spending six days just on this bus trip. So some of it is just the ability to get known more effectively. And the message is going to stay consistent, which is that not only do we need a set of policies, particularly on the economy, that provide relief to middle-class and working-class families. But that the only way we’re going to actually implement those policies is if we break the grip of special interests and lobbyists in Washington. And that is at the heart of my campaign. You know, if you put side-by-side some of the policy proposals between myself and Senator Clinton, the differences aren’t always that great. On some issues we’ve got real debates. On some, they’re somewhat manufactured debates to provide you guys something to write about. But I do think there’s a real difference in terms of how we see Washington, because I think that, you know, if the mortgage-lending industry is spending $185 million on lobbying, then, you know, there’s going to be certain outcomes that have an impact on how we can keep people in their homes here in Pennsylvania. If the drug and insurance companies spend a billion dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions over a decade, they’re going to have a little more say about the health bill that comes out of committee than some of the people who were here today, who are trying to figure out how to deal with premiums that are rising, or don’t have health insurance at all. And to the extent that I can communicate that need to change how business is done in Washington, and to create a more transparent and more accountable system, then hopefully that’s something that will resonate with folks who feel like every four years they’re given a bunch of promises but nothing really changes. Ok? Why don’t I make this the last one.

Q: Yesterday, Senator Leahy, who endorsed you, said that Senator Clinton should get out of the race. Do you think it’s premature for some of your supporters to start saying that?

BO: Yeah, you know, I hadn’t talked to Pat about it. My attitude is that Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants. Her name’s on the ballot, and she is a fierce and formidable competitor, and she obviously believes that she would make the best nominee and the best president, and I think that you know, she should be able to compete and her supporter should be able to support her, for as long as they are willing or able.

Q: Is there a time to mention?

BO: No, I mean I just think when we’ve completed all the contests that are remaining, some point in early June, then at that point there are no more contests. And I think it is important to pivot as completely as possible, for the superdelegates or others, to make a decision as quickly as possible so that we can settle on a nominee and give that nominee some time before the convention to select a vice president, or presidential nominee, to start thinking about how the convention should be conducted. So I think that work is going to have to be done relatively quickly – and at that point there won’t be really any further information to be had. We will have had contests in all 50 states plus several territories. We will have tallied up the pledged delegate vote, we will have tallied up the popular vote, we will have tallied up how many states were won by who, and then at that point I think people should have more than enough information to make a decision. But I think that the notion that the party’s been divided by this contest is somewhat overstated. You know, there’s no doubt that among some of my supporters or some of her supporters, there’s probably been some irritation created. But I also think every content you’ve seen in every state, huge jumps in Democratic registration, including independents and Republicans who are changing registration to vote in the Democratic primaries. You know, those are people who are now invested in what happens. And I think that bodes very well for us in November; I think the party’s going to come together. You can’t tell me that some of my supporters are going to say, well, we’d rather have the guy who may want to stay in Iraq for a hundred years, because we’re mad that Senator Clinton ran a negative ad against Senator Obama. And I think the converse is true as well. I think Senator Clinton’s supporters will ultimately look at a comparison and say, “we think an Obama administration would be very different from a McCain administration.” So I’m less worried about this than some people are. I do want to make sure, that, to the extent that I can control it, that we show some – some restraint, and that we’re measured in how we present the contrast between myself and Senator Clinton. And we’ve been very careful in this campaign not to say things that could be used as, you know, ammunition for the Republicans if Senator Clinton were the nominee.

Q: Do you think she’s done the same?

BO: Well, I think we’ve been trying to maintain that kind of approach, and I hope that that’s the approach that both our campaigns take and our surrogates take. And I think we have not been blameless in this process.

Q: You guys are going bowling later, you much of a bowler?

BO: I am a terrible bowler, so you guys should have fun observing me. My basketball game’s not bad. Casey was a beast on the boards.

I’ve reported on politics for about eight years full time and covered politics for most of my 24 years as a reporter.Some reporters dream of covering presidential races. I never dreamed about it, but this is a dream race.I’m typing this exhausted beyond sleep as I start this about 1 a.m. Sunday morning. The second day of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s six-day cross-state bus tour ended just hours ago. The pace is relentless. You know you’re exhilarated without ever actually feeling exhilarated because there’s no time.The adrenaline kicks in and you do whatever must be done. An overwhelming feeling that no matter what happens, it might be news, permeates your senses.You see a long line of people waiting to see Mr. Obama as they did at the Soldiers and Sailors Museum in Pittsburgh on Friday and you feel like you want to interview every one. You stand in the cold interviewing people while mentally reminding yourself to keep an eye on the clock because his endorsement by Scranton’s Bob Casey is coming up and you want to get settled in the museum in time to get a good seat.In the meantime, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy drops a bomb by telling a public radio interviewer in his home state he thinks New York Sen. Hillary Clinton should drop out. That followed the shock of Mr. Casey’s endorsement.When we talked about sending me on the road last week, the point was supposed to give you a close-up look at the candidate behind the scenes. At some point, we’ll get to that.First the news.Mr. Obama’s campaign does prefer soul music as those photographers I mentioned in my Friday blog item said — Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours” and Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” anchored the festivities at Greater Johnstown High School in Johnstown where the candidate hosted a town meeting.For a guy able to attract young people to his campaign, he sure likes old music.He also loves basketball. Mr. Obama, Mr. Casey and Reggie Love, a former Duke University walk-on hoopster, and some others involved in the campaign played a pick-up game of basketball Saturday morning at a local gym in Johnstown. They plan to do it again this morning.At a news conference after his town hall meeting at Greater Johnstown High School, Mr. Obama talked about the game.“My basketball’s not bad. Casey was a beast on the boards,” Mr. Obama said.“I was very blue-collar, which means I didn’t score much,” Mr.Casey said.“No, but you were boxing out, which is what we needed,” Mr. Obama said.Mr. Casey was known as a plodder as a basketball player at Scranton Preparatory School. Last year, The New York Times reported that in his book “Dreams From My Father,” Mr. Obama wrote that as one of the few black students at his high school in Hawaii, “At least on the basketball court I could find a community of sorts.”Mr. Casey said they played two games of four-on-four to 15 by ones. I forgot to ask him who won, but he said he was ready to quit after the first.He said this late at night in the restaurant/bar at the Penn State Conference Center Hotel where the campaign spent the night prior to Mr. Obama’s outdoor rally at 1:35 p.m. today on the Old Main Lawn at Penn State’s main campus in State College.He was in restaurant/bar with me, his press secretary, Kendra Barkoff, and two other Pennsylvania reporters who cover him regularly, Brett Lieberman of the Harrisburg Patriot-News and James O’Toole of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.Yes, Bob Casey entered a bar.And get this. He drank beer, actually two bottles of the Belgian white ale Blue Moon.Bob Casey drinks beer.It might be the only thing he has in common with George W. Bush, who some analysts have said got elected because people felt he was the kind of guy they could have a beer with.For the cynics out there, I’m virtually certain Mr. Casey’s two-ale maximum wasn’t staged to highlight him as a down-to-earth guy for political reasons.He’s not planning to run for president someday either.

I’ve reported on politics for about eight years full time and covered politics for most of my 24 years as a reporter.Some reporters dream of covering presidential races. I never dreamed about it, but this is a dream race.I’m typing this exhausted beyond sleep as I start this about 1 a.m. Sunday morning. The second day of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s six-day cross-state bus tour ended just hours ago. The pace is relentless. You know you’re exhilarated without ever actually feeling exhilarated because there’s no time.The adrenaline kicks in and you do whatever must be done. An overwhelming feeling that no matter what happens, it might be news, permeates your senses.You see a long line of people waiting to see Mr. Obama as they did at the Soldiers and Sailors Museum in Pittsburgh on Friday and you feel like you want to interview every one. You stand in the cold interviewing people while mentally reminding yourself to keep an eye on the clock because his endorsement by Scranton’s Bob Casey is coming up and you want to get settled in the museum in time to get a good seat.In the meantime, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy drops a bomb by telling a public radio interviewer in his home state he thinks New York Sen. Hillary Clinton should drop out. That followed the shock of Mr. Casey’s endorsement.When we talked about sending me on the road last week, the point was supposed to give you a close-up look at the candidate behind the scenes. At some point, we’ll get to that.First the news.Mr. Obama’s campaign does prefer soul music as those photographers I mentioned in my Friday blog item said — Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours” and Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” anchored the festivities at Greater Johnstown High School in Johnstown where the candidate hosted a town meeting.For a guy able to attract young people to his campaign, he sure likes old music.He also loves basketball. Mr. Obama, Mr. Casey and Reggie Love, a former Duke University walk-on hoopster, and some others involved in the campaign played a pick-up game of basketball Saturday morning at a local gym in Johnstown. They plan to do it again this morning.At a news conference after his town hall meeting at Greater Johnstown High School, Mr. Obama talked about the game.“My basketball’s not bad. Casey was a beast on the boards,” Mr. Obama said.“I was very blue-collar, which means I didn’t score much,” Mr.Casey said.“No, but you were boxing out, which is what we needed,” Mr. Obama said.Mr. Casey was known as a plodder as a basketball player at Scranton Preparatory School. Last year, The New York Times reported that in his book “Dreams From My Father,” Mr. Obama wrote that as one of the few black students at his high school in Hawaii, “At least on the basketball court I could
find a community of sorts.”Mr. Casey said they played two games of four-on-four to 15 by ones. I forgot to ask him who won, but he said he was ready to quit after the first.He said this late at night in the restaurant/bar at the Penn State Conference Center Hotel where the campaign spent the night prior to Mr. Obama’s outdoor rally at 1:35 p.m. today on the Old Main Lawn at Penn State’s main campus in State College.He was in restaurant/bar with me, his press secretary, Kendra Barkoff, and two other
Pennsylvania reporters who cover him regularly, Brett Lieberman of the
Harrisburg Patriot-News and James O’Toole of the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette.
Yes, Bob Casey entered a bar.And get this. He drank beer, actually two bottles of the Belgian white ale Blue Moon.Bob Casey drinks beer.It might be the only thing he has in common with George W. Bush, who some analysts have said got elected because people felt he was the kind of guy they could have a beer with.For the cynics out there, I’m virtually certain Mr. Casey’s two-ale maximum wasn’t staged to highlight him as a down-to-earth guy for political reasons.He’s not planning to run for president someday either.

I’ve reported on politics for about eight years full time and covered politics for most of my 24 years as a reporter.Some reporters dream of covering presidential races. I never dreamed about it, but this is a dream race.I’m typing this exhausted beyond sleep as I start this about 1 a.m. Sunday morning. The second day of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s six-day cross-state bus tour ended just hours ago. The pace is relentless. You know you’re exhilarated without ever actually feeling exhilarated because there’s no time.The adrenaline kicks in and you do whatever must be done. An overwhelming feeling that no matter what happens, it might be news, permeates your senses.You see a long line of people waiting to see Mr. Obama as they did at the Soldiers and Sailors Museum in Pittsburgh on Friday and you feel like you want to interview every one. You stand in the cold interviewing people while mentally reminding yourself to keep an eye on the clock because his endorsement by Scranton’s Bob Casey is coming up and you want to get settled in the museum in time to get a good seat.In the meantime, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy drops a bomb by telling a public radio interviewer in his home state he thinks New York Sen. Hillary Clinton should drop out. That followed the shock of Mr. Casey’s endorsement.When we talked about sending me on the road last week, the point was supposed to give you a close-up look at the candidate behind the scenes. At some point, we’ll get to that.First the news.Mr. Obama’s campaign does prefer soul music as those photographers I mentioned in my Friday blog item said — Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours” and Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” anchored the festivities at Greater Johnstown High School in Johnstown where the candidate hosted a town meeting.For a guy able to attract young people to his campaign, he sure likes old music.He also loves basketball. Mr. Obama, Mr. Casey and Reggie Love, a former Duke University walk-on hoopster, and some others involved in the campaign played a pick-up game of basketball Saturday morning at a local gym in Johnstown. They plan to do it again this morning.At a news conference after his town hall meeting at Greater Johnstown High School, Mr. Obama talked about the game.“My basketball’s not bad. Casey was a beast on the boards,” Mr. Obama said.“I was very blue-collar, which means I didn’t score much,” Mr.Casey said.“No, but you were boxing out, which is what we needed,” Mr. Obama said.Mr. Casey was known as a plodder as a basketball player at Scranton Preparatory School. Last year, The New York Times reported that in his book “Dreams From My Father,” Mr. Obama wrote that as one of the few black students at his high school in Hawaii, “At least on the basketball court I could
find a community of sorts.”Mr. Casey said they played two games of four-on-four to 15 by ones. I forgot to ask him who won, but he said he was ready to quit after the first.He said this late at night in the restaurant/bar at the Penn State Conference Center Hotel where the campaign spent the night prior to Mr. Obama’s outdoor rally at 1:35 p.m. today on the Old Main Lawn at Penn State’s main campus in State College.He was in restaurant/bar with me, his press secretary, Kendra Barkoff, and two other
Pennsylvania reporters who cover him regularly, Brett Lieberman of the
Harrisburg Patriot-News and James O’Toole of the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette.
Yes, Bob Casey entered a bar.And get this. He drank beer, actually two bottles of the Belgian white ale Blue Moon.Bob Casey drinks beer.It might be the only thing he has in common with George W. Bush, who some analysts have said got elected because people felt he was the kind of guy they could have a beer with.For the cynics out there, I’m virtually certain Mr. Casey’s two-ale maximum wasn’t staged to highlight him as a down-to-earth guy for political reasons.He’s not planning to run for president someday either.

I’ve reported on politics for about eight years full time and covered politics for most of my 24 years as a reporter.Some reporters dream of covering presidential races. I never dreamed about it, but this is a dream race.I’m typing this exhausted beyond sleep as I start this about 1 a.m. Sunday morning. The second day of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s six-day cross-state bus tour ended just hours ago. The pace is relentless. You know you’re exhilarated without ever actually feeling exhilarated because there’s no time.The adrenaline kicks in and you do whatever must be done. An overwhelming feeling that no matter what happens, it might be news, permeates your senses.You see a long line of people waiting to see Mr. Obama as they did at the Soldiers and Sailors Museum in Pittsburgh on Friday and you feel like you want to interview every one. You stand in the cold interviewing people while mentally reminding yourself to keep an eye on the clock because his endorsement by Scranton’s Bob Casey is coming up and you want to get settled in the museum in time to get a good seat.In the meantime, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy drops a bomb by telling a public radio interviewer in his home state he thinks New York Sen. Hillary Clinton should drop out. That followed the shock of Mr. Casey’s endorsement.When we talked about sending me on the road last week, the point was supposed to give you a close-up look at the candidate behind the scenes. At some point, we’ll get to that.First the news.Mr. Obama’s campaign does prefer soul music as those photographers I mentioned in my Friday blog item said — Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours” and Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” anchored the festivities at Greater Johnstown High School in Johnstown where the candidate hosted a town meeting.For a guy able to attract young people to his campaign, he sure likes old music.He also loves basketball. Mr. Obama, Mr. Casey and Reggie Love, a former Duke University walk-on hoopster, and some others involved in the campaign played a pick-up game of basketball Saturday morning at a local gym in Johnstown. They plan to do it again this morning.At a news conference after his town hall meeting at Greater Johnstown High School, Mr. Obama talked about the game.“My basketball’s not bad. Casey was a beast on the boards,” Mr. Obama said.“I was very blue-collar, which means I didn’t score much,” Mr.Casey said.“No, but you were boxing out, which is what we needed,” Mr. Obama said.Mr. Casey was known as a plodder as a basketball player at Scranton Preparatory School. Last year, The New York Times reported that in his book “Dreams From My Father,” Mr. Obama wrote that as one of the few black students at his high school in Hawaii, “At least on the basketball court I could
find a community of sorts.”Mr. Casey said they played two games of four-on-four to 15 by ones. I forgot to ask him who won, but he said he was ready to quit after the first.He said this late at night in the restaurant/bar at the Penn State Conference Center Hotel where the campaign spent the night prior to Mr. Obama’s outdoor rally at 1:35 p.m. today on the Old Main Lawn at Penn State’s main campus in State College.He was in restaurant/bar with me, his press secretary, Kendra Barkoff, and two other
Pennsylvania reporters who cover him regularly, Brett Lieberman of the
Harrisburg Patriot-News and James O’Toole of the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette.
Yes, Bob Casey entered a bar.And get this. He drank beer, actually two bottles of the Belgian white ale Blue Moon.Bob Casey drinks beer.It might be the only thing he has in common with George W. Bush, who some analysts have said got elected because people felt he was the kind of guy they could have a beer with.For the cynics out there, I’m virtually certain Mr. Casey’s two-ale maximum wasn’t staged to highlight him as a down-to-earth guy for political reasons.He’s not planning to run for president someday either.

State Republican Party Chairman Robert A. Gleason Jr. ripped Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, Jr for endorsing Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. He said the divisive primary between Mr. Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton displays a party split that makes the Democrats unfit to govern.

News of Mr. Gleason’s unsurprising view came in a release from the state Republican Party.

“After observing Senator Bob Casey Jr.’s first year in office, Pennsylvanians were shocked to learn that he actually took a position on something. It was, however, not as surprising to learn that he chose to endorse Barack Obama and is comfortable aligning himself with the man the National Journal rated the most liberal U.S. Senator of 2007,” Mr. Gleason said. “Sen. Bob Casey Jr., whose relationship with Pennsylvania governor and Clinton supporter Ed Rendell has always been strained, may believe endorsing Barack Obama is a great way to pay back the man who demolished him in the intensely divisive 2002 Democrat gubernatorial primary. Regardless of Sen. Casey’s reasons for issuing the endorsement now, he flip-flopped on his earlier stance where he talked about being the person who could bring about unity and healing after the Democrat Primary ended.”

Then Mr. Gleason quoted a Times-Tribune story in which Mr. Casey said he wanted to be the healer.

“Sens. Casey and Obama share a number of things in common, including their support for an incredibly liberal agenda and their unending thirst for higher political office,” Mr. Gleason said. “These two … enjoy running for higher political office and seem to enjoy campaigning more than the work of constituents they were elected to represent. I don’t think two candidates have ever campaigned as much as these two and consistently said less about the direction they were planning to lead the country.

“More and more Pennsylvanians continue to rally around Sen. John McCain’s campaign for the White House and an agenda that is focused on the future rather than partisan politics.”

Don’t know about Pennsylvanians rallying around John McCain, but all that Democratic squabbling in Pennsylvania sure isn’t hurting him.

Sen. Bob Casey had the best seat in the house Friday at the Soldiers and Sailors Museum in Pittsburgh where he surprised many by endorsing Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

He sat on a stool less than 10 feet from where Mr. Obama spoke to about 2,500 people.

About an hour later, he came upstairs and stood about 10 feet from a different crowd, the reporters following the Obama campaign. In a cavernous third-floor ballroom, they had just about finished filing their stories about the endorsement and wolfing down lunch.

Mr. Casey said he was like a lot of voters, undecided about whether to endorse Mr. Obama or New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, both strong candidates who “will be very, very effective in the White House.”

Actually, he was more than neutral. He said he would avoid endorsing so he could play the role of party unifier after the Democratic nominating process was complete.

“And for a long, long time I was not only neutral but an undecided voter and that changed recently,” he said, “where I became someone who made a decision in my own heart as a voter to support Sen. Obama.”

He said he could have easily stayed out of the race, but “I couldn’t do that.”

“It’s a state that I’ve worked so hard,” he said, citing his experience in multiple elections as a candidate. “I know a lot about campaigns and I know a lot about the state. And I think it’s very important … to make a decsion … to try to help him.”

Then he uttered what for Mr. Casey is a memorable quote.

“I believe in this guy like I’ve never believed in a candidate in my life, except for my father,” Mr. Casey said.

If you’ve followed Mr. Casey’s career, you know he is not known for speaking in such personal terms. While just about everyone says he’s a nice guy, you never hear him speaking so colloquially and using a phrase like “this guy.” That’s more like something Gov. Ed Rendell would say.

It’s a clear sign that Mr. Casey genuinely likes Mr. Obama. And for him to publicly put Mr. Obama second only to his father as a candidate, well, that’s just amazing. Don’t forget Mr. Casey was born in 1960, the year John F. Kennedy was elected president and he was a god to Democrats, especially the Casey family, whose reign in Pennsylvania politics has been likened to the Massachusetts reign of the Kennedys.

“He’s a tremendous candidate,” he said of Mr. Obama. “I think the more time he has on the ground here in Pennsylvania, the better he’ll do.”

Mr. Casey declined to go as far as Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy did on Friday. Mr. Leahy called on Mrs. Clinton to drop out of the race, a suggestion she passionately declined.

“No, look, I’m concentrating on one thing right now, the April 22 Pennsylvania primary,” Mr. Casey said. “And believe me, we have never had a primary like this in the history of the state. And we’re happy that both campaigns and we’re happy that there’s a lot of activity.”

He reiterated what most analysts say about Pennsylvania.

“There’s one thing we know. The Democratic nominee for president cannot be the president without Pennsylvania in the fall,” he said. No Democrat has won the presidency without Pennsylvania since Harry Truman.

Mr. Casey said he endorsed Mr. Obama because he was “inspired by his message” and his “character when he’s campaigning.”

“This is a tough campaign. But also I think this campaign tests someone,” he said. “And I think he’s been tested. I said earlier that he’s appealed to the better angels our nature … under very difficult circumstances.”

He called his endorsement “a very personal decision.” In a phone interview, Mr. Casey said he made it over the Easter weekend while vacationing in Florida with his in-laws.

“I had a couple of days off .. and I made a very personal decision. I didn’t have meetings with consultants,” Mr. Casey told the reporters. “My family they only found out recently … The only person I talked to about this … directly is my wife Terese.”

Margi Casey McGrath, Mr. Casey’s oldest sister, said her brother only notified family members in a conference call late Thursday night. All his siblings, except for brother Chris, who could not be reached, were on the call. They all support his decision, she said.

Mr. Casey didn’t directly answer a question about whether he decided to endorse Mr. Obama now in hopes of bettering his colleague’s chances of bringing the Democratic nominating process to a close.

“I would hope that after Pennsylvania, and then we have a couple more primaries, I would hope this wouldn’t go much further than the end of May,” he said. “If you get too far into the summer, I think positions begin to harden and we lose time to not just unite … but also we give the Republican nominee more time to make the case against our nominee without enough rebuttal.”

Mr. Casey said he doesn’t buy the Clinton campaign’s argument that Mrs. Clinton is worthier because she has won the larger states that Democrats must win in the fall.

As a veteran of tough primary and general elections, he said, “there’s a world of difference between any primary and general election.”

“I think that argument is ludicrous,” Mr. Casey said. “There’s no question about it. Whoever’s the nominee will win all of the states we have been winning, the so-called blue states.”

The question is who can win states like Pennsylvania that are “barely blue” and “other states that are difficult to win.”“I think Sen. Obama will win Pennsylvania in the fall,” he said. And Mr. Obama offers the best chance at winning states that aren’t traditionally in the Democratic column.

In the phone interview, Mr. Casey denied his decision had anything to do with what happened at the 1992 convention in New York City.

At that convention, Mr. Casey’s late father, Gov. Robert P. Casey, was denied the right to speak out against abortion. Gov. Casey blamed the Clintons, although the governor’s wife, Ellen, has said those wounds were smoothed over long ago.Some party leaders maintain Gov. Casey wasn’t allowed to speak because he refused to endorse Mr. Clinton and his running mate, Al Gore. They cite the presence of other speakers who oppose abortion, such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson.But Gov. Casey was seated upstairs at Madison Square Garden far away from where the action was and believed his anti-abortion stance was the reason. The snub wasn’t a factor in his decision, Mr. Casey said.“This is not only about who’s going to be the nominee. It’s about him and his candidacy in the fall. It’s an important candidacy based on hope and optimism,” Mr. Casey said

Stay up to date on Northeastern Pennsylvania politics with Times-Tribune politics reporter Borys Krawczeniuk (pronounced CROUCH-enyook, that's why we just call him "Borys"). The Borys Blog brings you the news, substantiated gossip, insight and intrigue of the region's unique brand of politics.